Thursday, 24 April 2014

Adventures with plums: stewed, jam, with tempeh, soup and crumble

Plums are the latecomer in the stone fruit world. While my fruit bowl is filling with cherries and peaches in early summer, there is nary a sign of plums. Then in Autumn when most of the stone fruit has disappeared, plums are still hanging in there. And most welcome. Unlike most stone fruit, I don't eat lots of fresh plums but I love stewing them and baking with them. Here are a few of the ways I have used plums this Autumn.

I have a penchant for plum jam. When plums were cheap at the end of February, I bought some plums and strawberries to make jam. Sylvia requested the strawberries be in the jam but we ate them. Instead I added raspberries.

Plum and raspberry jam

It was my third jam of the summer so I was in the zone. I was fairly cavalier with measurements. Then I worried it wasn't sweet enough when we opened the first jar. Later I tasted a supermarket jam we have in the fridge and it was like sugar. It made me appreciate how good it is to taste the fruit in my jam.

apple, plum and quince crumble

One of our household's favourite dishes to make with plums (or any stewed fruit) is a crumble. I made this apple, plum and quince crumble. I cooked the fruit separately and then mixed it. It probably would have looked better (and more plum coloured) if I had cooked it together before making the crumble. But a nice crumble mixture means that it just doesn't matter. E love custard with crumble so much that he actually made some custard while I was at the movies with a friend.

This post actually started off with decided to write about an odd tempeh bacon and plum sauce bowl that I made. It wasn't the most brilliant dish but I enjoyed it and liked the idea. The tempeh bacon (facon) was yummy though not crisp. I made the plum sauce out of some stewed plums on a night when I was lacking inspiration and went to the fridge to see what was there.

Tempeh bacon bowl with plum sauce

The plum sauce was good with the tempeh bacon. Any other grain or vegetable could work here but I highly recommend the combination of plum sauce and tempeh bacon. I often think plum sauce is too rich for vegetarian dishes. You could try this with tofu bacon or even smoky chickpeas but I think tempeh is a more robust flavour that is a great foil for the sauce.

Tomato, plum and white bean soup

I gobbled up the leftover tempeh bacon easily but was not sure about how to use the sauce. Then again fate presented me with ageing tomatoes to use and a surplus of white beans in the freezer. I blended them together with some extra seasoning and served it with cheese on toast. It was pretty good. I enjoyed the leftovers even more when I stirred in yoghurt, smoked paprika and black pepper. It is more an idea than a completed recipe but again I wanted to record it because you never know when I will need ideas for leftover plum sauce.

Plum oat and cinnamon slice

I also made this favourite plum oat and cinnamon slice that I have made a few times. It seemed less fruit this time. Yet I still love it. So full of crumbly, oaty, fruity yumminess.

Stewed plums

Lastly I thought I might take a photo of a recent saucepan of stewed plums. We have had a lot of stewed plums this season. Often eaten after dinner with a dollop of yoghurt. I stone and chop them, throw them in a saucepan with a splash of water, two or three spoonfuls of honey and a cinnamon stick. Then I simmer until the plums are soft. Just enough honey so they lose their tart edge. Delicious enough to eat from the saucepan.

Every time I see cheap plums I buy a bagful. I bought some this week. They are definitely at the end of the season. I am not sure our kitchen will see any more this year. Thanks goodness for apples coming into season. It is some consolation as we farewell plums.

Bring all ingredients to the boil and simmer 60-80 min. To test, put a small teaspoonful on a saucer that has been in the freezer. When you run your finger through it, the jam should stay either side of the trail where you finger has been. (It will firm up somewhat as it cools.) You will also know the jam is done when it clings to the spoon rather than all running off. I sterilised my jars in the oven and boiled the lids (See previous sterilisation notes.) Spoon jam into sterislised jars and screw on lids tightly. Keeps in the cupboard for months.

Mix everything except the tempeh. Arrange the tempeh strips in the marinade and marinate for about 30 minutes. Heat oil over medium heat in heavy based frypan. Fry tempeh slices for about 20 to 30 minutes until a deep golden brown with a little charred edges. (I can just fit the slices from a packet of tempeh in my very large frypan but if you can't have them all lying flat in your frypan, you might need to do two batches.) Retain any marinade left in the container for the plum and mustard sauce or other soups and stews.

24 comments:

I always forget that it's autumn in Australia now when we are just about to enter summer. I cannot wait for plum season. A soupl with plum sauce sounds really interesting. I would never have guessed the ingredient!

Thanks Mihl - it always feel a bit topsy turvy to read about opposite seasons to ours but thank goodness we can bookmark for :-) I don't think I would have come up with the plum sauce in soup but I was wondering what to do with the leftover sauce and soup is often the answer when I need to use up food.

What a delicious collection of plum recipes. I love the bright vibrant colour of your pluma nd raspberry jam. I really must get back into jam making this year. I love stewed plums with cereal and yoghurt for breakfast or custard for dessert. Their colour is just so inviting.Never tried plums in soup before - will have to try it

Thanks Katie - I've been quite into jam making this summer - I love stewed plums and yoghurt for breakfast - sometimes I add some toasted oats but that is only if I have the energy. I was a bit unsure of the plums in soup until I ate the leftovers.

This is a jam packed post Johanna, literally - loads to take in. Like you I don't eat plums fresh, but do like them stewed in jams, flapjacks and crumbles. I've not made plum sauce though, so that will be on my list to make this year when I actually harvest my own plums - yeph I have a plum tree :) Thank you as always for taking the time to come on over and comment on my blog, its always warmly appreciated x PS Intrigued by the plum soup!

Thanks Shaheen - love your pun and am jealous of your plum tree - sounds wonderful - I did polenta fingers with a rhubarb sauce once and wonder if they would also work with a savoury plum sauce. Lovely to hear from you - love visiting your blog too

Your plum jam looks wonderful and I love the sounds of that sauce and what it did to liven up the tomato soup--especially combined with the smoked paprika. That sounds like such a tasty combination. Thanks for sharing it with Souper Sundays this week. It's always a pleasure to have you. ;-)

I LOVE plum crumble! We used to have it regularly as a kid, and still do now! Delicious. I'm also bookmarking the tempeh bacon for later use - I'm still finding my feet with tempeh, so all recipes gratefully received! (I made your coconut bacon the other day and it was amazing, so really looking forward to a bit of tempeh with similar flavours!)

Thanks Joey - I love plum crumble too - rarely had it as a kid - I think we just ate lots of fresh blood plums - which seem less common these days - glad you enjoyed the coconut bacon - hope you enjoy the tempeh bacon too - highly recommend this tempeh bacon it is the crispiest I have found yet

I am so lucky to have my own plum tree which year on year supplies me with a wonderful harvest of fruit. Normally I would just make plum jam but I like your idea of also adding raspberries to the mix, luckily I grow those too so should make for some cheap jam.

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.